尼安德特人是古人類的一個亞種，曾在大約4萬年前神秘消失之前在歐亞大陸漫遊，但由於其滅絕的真正原因尚未引起人們的關注，尼安德特人仍然是考古學家和人種誌研究者著迷的地方。
來自俄羅斯，烏克蘭，波蘭，德國，澳大利亞和加拿大的跨國科學家團體發現了重要的新線索，表明尼安德特人遊牧民族從東歐到西伯利亞南部進行了至少兩次單獨的3,000-4,000公裏的跋涉，以尋找野牛。
突破性的發現基於對阿爾泰地區著名考古遺址Chagyrskaya Cave的一種獨特類型的石器工具的識別和分析，為古代人猿驚人的適應幹旱和貧瘠草原和寒冷寒冷的能力提供了新線索西伯利亞在遠距離遷移過程中的溫度。
在發表於《美國國家科學院院刊》上的研究中，研究人員解釋說，與早在Denisova洞穴中發現的遺骸不同的是，在阿爾泰地區另一部分的一個單獨的考古遺址，Chagyrskaya洞穴的人猿裝備有“獨特的工具包”，“非常類似於來自中歐和東歐的Micoquian組合，包括北部的Cauacasus，位於Chagyrskaya Cave以西3,000多公裏處。”
研究人員強調說：“在其他阿爾泰遺址，早期尼安德特人缺乏相關的類似Micoquian樣製品的證據表明，有兩次或多次尼安德特人入侵該地區。”
Chagyrskaya Cave地下6c / 1層的石器。 （A–C）診斷Micoquian Bocksteinmesser和Klausennischemesser類型的三種平凸雙麵工具的照片，線條圖和橫截麵輪廓。 （比例尺5厘米）
©照片：KOLOBOVA ET AL。 PNAS
Chagyrskaya Cave地下6c / 1層的石器。 （A–C）診斷Micoquian Bocksteinmesser和Klausennischemesser類型的三種平凸雙麵工具的照片，線條圖和橫截麵輪廓。 （比例尺5厘米）
一項DNA分析將在Chagyrskaya洞穴中發現的尼安德特人追溯到居住在東歐的人口，整個研究“提供了一個與眾不同的舊石器時代工具相關的長距離，洲際人口流動的罕見例子。”
俄羅斯科學院西伯利亞分校考古與人種學研究所的合著者和考古學家Kseniya Kolobova博士解釋說，尼安德特人的獨特石器工具被用來加工野牛的屍體，而人類則使用堅韌的材料（如碧玉）或在河床中以卵石形式發現的翡翠和斑岩構成複雜的石材工具。
在向西伯利亞時代發表講話時，科洛博娃強調說，遠古的尼安德特人比以前認為的要複雜得多。例如，她指出了一塊裝飾性的水晶，這種水晶在阿爾泰地區並不常見，據信尼安德特人隨其攜帶了很長一段距離。她說，這表明“尼安德特人的認知能力比以前想像的要廣。”
這位學者指出，歐洲科學家最近在當地洞穴中發現了其他“尼安德特人以幾何雕刻形式進行的非功利主義活動的證據”，這再次表明了他們的高智商水平。
MP和UP組合件的站點地圖和主成分分析。 （A）用於與Chagyrskaya洞穴文物進行統計比較的Levallois-Mousterian和Micoquian組合地點的位置
©照片：KOLOBOVA ET AL。 PNAS
MP和UP組合件的站點地圖和主成分分析。 （A）用於與Chagyrskaya洞穴文物進行統計比較的Levallois-Mousterian和Micoquian組合地點的位置
這項研究的另一位合著者之一，波蘭科學院地質科學研究所的Maciej Krajczarz博士說，這有助於確認尼安德特人的熱情自然和適應能力。他說：“尼安德特人在草原和苔原草原上的生活極為適應，可以繞過裏海從東歐到達阿爾泰山脈，然後沿著草原帶向東走。”
自2007年以來在Chagyrskaya洞穴中發現的74個尼安德特人化石和90,000多個石器中，有1,200多個用野牛骨頭雕刻而成的物品，包括工具，打孔工具，刀具和刮板。據信，最早的尼安德特人已於100,000年前到達西伯利亞。據信，Micoquian武裝的尼安德特人（Neanderthals）已進入該地區約6萬年前。
盡管人們相信與人類，氣候變化和疾病的競爭起著作用，但學者們尚未發現約有40,000年前導致尼安德特人死亡的原因。
Neanderthals, a subspecies of archaic humans who roamed Eurasia before mysteriously disappearing some 40,000 years ago, remain a source of fascination among archeologists and ethnographers, since the true cause of their extinction has yet to be agreed upon.
A multinational collective of scientists from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Australia and Canada has discovered important new clues indicating that Neanderthal nomads made at least two separate 3,000-4,000 km treks from Eastern Europe to southern Siberia in the hunt for bison.
The groundbreaking discovery, based on the identification and analysis of a distinct type of stone tool at Chagyrskaya Cave, a famous archeological site in Altai region, provides new clues about the ancient hominins’ amazing ability to adapt to the dry and barren steppes and frigid cold temperatures of Siberia during migration across long distances.
In their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Journal, researchers explained that unlike the remains found earlier in the Denisova Cave a separate archeological site in another part of the Altai region, the Chagyrskaya Cave hominins were armed with a “distinctive toolkit” which “closely resembles Micoquian assemblages from central and eastern Europe, including the northern Cauacasus, more than 3,000 kilometers to the west of Chagyrskaya Cave.”
“At other Altai sites, evidence of earlier Neanderthal populations lacking associated Micoquian-like artifacts implies two or more Neanderthal incursions into this region,” researchers stressed.
A DNA analysis traced the Neanderthals found at Chagyrskaya Cave to populations who inhabited Eastern Europe, with the study as a whole “providing a rare example of a long-distance, intercontinental population movement associated with a distinctive Paleolithic toolkit.”
Dr. Kseniya Kolobova, study coauthor and archeologist at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Siberian Branch’s Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, explained that the Neanderthals’ unique lithic tools were used to process the carcasses of bison, with the hominins using tough materials such as jasper or chalcedonite and porphyrite found as pebbles in riverbeds to create complex stone tools.
Speaking to the Siberian Times, Kolobova emphasised that ancient Neanderthals were far more complex beings than previously believed. She pointed, for example, to a piece of decorative rock crystal uncommon to the Altai region which the Neanderthals were believed to have carried with them across long distances. It, she said, showed “that the cognitive abilities of the Neanderthals were wider than previously thought.”
The academic pointed out that scientists in Europe have recently found other “evidence of non-utilitarian activities of Neanderthals in the form of geometric engravings” in local caves, again indicating high levels of intelligence.
Dr. Maciej Krajczarz of the Polish Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Geological Sciences, another of the study’s coauthors, said it helped confirm the Neanderthals’ hearty nature and adaptability. “Neanderthals were supremely adapted to life on steppe and tundra-steppe landscapes, and could have reached the Altai Mountains from Eastern Europe by going around the Caspian Sea and then east along the steppe belt,” he said.
Among the 74 Neanderthal fossils and 90,000+ stone artefacts which have been found at the Chagyrskaya Cave since 2007 are over 1,200 items carved from bison bones, including tool-making tools, piercings, knives and scrapings. The first Neanderthals are believed to have made it to Siberia some 100,000 years ago. The Micoquian tool-armed Neanderthals are thought to have made it to the area about 60,000 years ago.
Academics have yet to discover what caused the Neanderthals to die out some 40,000 years ago, although it is believed that competition with humans, climate change and disease played a role.
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